A Withdrawal Agreement Reading Guide

Jane Lambert

Art 50 (2) of the Treaty on European Union requires the European Union to negotiate and conclude an agreement with a member state that has given notice of its intention of leaving the EU that sets out the arrangements for its withdrawal, and takes account of the framework for its future relationship with the EU.  The draft agreement that has been negotiated by officials for the British government and European Union is the agreement contemplated by that provision.  It is intended to come into effect at 23:00 on 29 March 2019 and remain in force until 31 Dec 2020.   It is hoped that a new agreement concluded in accordance with the framework for the future relationship between the UK and EU will take its place to govern relations between the UK and the EU on 1 Jan 2021.

The draft withdrawal agreement can be downloaded from the website of the Department for Exiting the European Union at 14 November Draft Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community or from the website of the Taskforce on Article 50 negotiations with the United Kingdom at the Draft Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, as agreed at negotiators' level on 14 November 2018.  A copy of the political declaration on the future relationship can also be downloaded from the Department for Exiting the EU website.

The draft withdrawal agreement is a hefty document consisting of 585 pages but it is not densely typed. Many of its pages contain just a few lines of text in a fairly large font.  Like most other international agreements it consists of

• a preamble, 
• 185 articles in the body of the draft, and 
• a number of protocols and annexes.

The 185 articles are divided into 6 Parts covering "Common Provisions", "Citizens' Rights", "Separation Provisions", the "Implementation" or "Transition Period", "Financial Provisions" and "Institutional and Final Provisions". Some of those Parts are very long and are further subdivided into Titles and Chapters. There are protocols on Northern Ireland, the sovereign bases in Cyprus and Gibraltar.  The annexes cover "Social Security Coordination", "Provisions of Union law referred to in Article 41(4)", "Time limits for the situations or customs procedures referred to in Article 49 (1)", "List of Networks, Information Systems and Databases referred to in Articles 50, 53, 99 and 100", "Euratom", "List of Administrative Cooperation procedures referred to in Article 98" "List of Acts/Provisions referred to in Article 128(6)", "Rules of Procedure of the Joint Committee and Specialised Committees" and "Rules of Procedure."

To assist readers to find their way around the draft withdrawal agreement, the government has published an Explainer for the agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and NorthernIreland from the European Union.   Consisting of 56 pages, this "Explainer" is also a pretty heavy document but it is written in non-technical language and greatly facilitates navigation of the draft agreement,

The outline political declaration is much more concise.   It consists of 6½ pages of bullet points divided into 6 Parts covering "Initial Provisions", "Economic Partnership", "Security Partnership", "Institutional Arrangements" and the "Forward Process."

Art 50 (2) requires any draft withdrawal agreement to be approved by the remaining member states acting on a qualified majority and also by the European Parliament.   It will also have to be approved by the British Parliament many members of which and peers have already expressed misgivings.   I am in no position to judge whether this is a good deal or a bad deal for the UK but the alternative is no deal at all and the guidance notes published by the government on How to prepare if the UK leaves the EU with no deal are far from encouraging.

Anyone wishing to discuss this reading guide or Brexit, in general, should call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form.